


danse macabre

by helios_ (neocitz)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Urban Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 19:59:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14678391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neocitz/pseuds/helios_
Summary: donghyuck wants the school dance to be the best night of renjun's not-life





	danse macabre

**Author's Note:**

> a part of a series of vaguely connected oneshots about supernatural nct dream 
> 
> un-beta'd

The dying rays of the sun slip down over the horizon, plunging the school grounds into the final minutes of dusk. Donghyuck’s chest warms, a fierce heat curling through him that has him sucking in a quick inhale of relief.

He turns to Jeno, whose head is turned up towards the barely visible stars.

‘Moonrise, soon,’ Jeno murmurs. He turns his smile back to look at Donghyuck, bright and relaxed as the two of them wait on the front steps of the school.

‘Are you going to be okay?’

Jeno huffs a laugh. ‘I’m going to be _fine_. I’m not some newly bitten cub or something.’ He still flexes his fingers, a small twitch that Donghyuck knows that he uses to ground himself. Jeno’s only been allowed out on full moons for the past few months, and that’s only because most of his friends are dead.

‘I’ve got a spell ready,’ Donghyuck says anyway, fingers reaching into his pocket for the little bag he’d prepared earlier. ‘Just in case.’

‘I don’t need it,’ Jeno sniffs but he nudges Donghyuck lightly with his elbow anyway, small smile on his face. Donghyuck knows that Jeno appreciates him and his efforts, as much as he pretends not to.

‘Just in case,’ Donghyuck promises, and he tosses the spell at Jeno.

The scent of wolfsbane burns at Jeno’s nose, from the way it crinkles up and his eyes flash a bright amber. Donghyuck’s tried different combinations of the herbs and his magic, but nothing’s quiet as effective infusing aconite and burdock with the magic that sparks at his fingers.

‘Hopefully I won’t need to use it,’ Jeno slips it into his pocket, patting it once before turning back to the carpark.

‘You won’t,’ Donghyuck nudges him again, confident in his best friend’s abilities. ‘I just… want everything to go right tonight.’

‘I think we all do,’ Jeno nods as one of their classmates wanders past them and into the school. Their dress floats around them and Donghyuck can’t help but admire the soft lightness of the fey magic before his attention is snatched away again.

Jaemin’s car pulls into the front of the school, now that the sunlight has completely dissipated. He steps out, and Donghyuck hears Jeno’s breath catch in his throat. Jaemin always looks unearthly, all vampires do, but tonight he looks ethereal. And it’s all for Jeno.

‘Hi,’ Jeno breathes. It’s almost like he doesn’t even know he’s moving, drawn to the taller boy who smooths down his waistcoat. ‘You look… gorgeous Nana.’

‘Thanks,’ Jaemin’s smile is wide but soft as he looks down at the werewolf. ‘You don’t clean up too badly, for a wolf.’

‘It’s almost like we didn’t agree to go as a group,’ Renjun laughs next to Donghyuck. Donghyuck doesn’t jump but he does start, hadn’t even noticed that Renjun had materialised next to him until the ghost spoke.

‘They’re always off in their own world,’ Donghyuck tsks.

His fingers reach for the spell in his pocket, but he doesn’t draw it out. Not yet.

 

 

Jaemin’s the only one who has any clue on what the dance is going to be like. His last few weeks have been spent rushing between classes and the dance committee meetings, so they know it’s at least going to be _nice_. Donghyuck’s seen snippets through the pages open on his iPad, but he stumbles to a stop when he stands in the entrance of the hall.

Fairylights float above their heads, little balls of light that bob gently and cast a warm glow over the kids chattering and dancing. Donghyuck would have thought it was pretty, if not for the fact that fairylight always makes him feel a little bit on edge.

‘It looks nice, Nana,’ Donghyuck says and he’s not even lying. The fairylights lend well to the streamers and balloons that hang from the ceiling. It doesn’t feel like the school, which is probably the biggest sign that the dance committee have succeeded.

‘Of course it does,’ Jaemin sniffs, even though his shoulders relax slightly at their compliments. ‘I didn’t _waste_ months of my life for this to be shit.’

Renjun laughs, a quiet little sound, and Donghyuck can’t help drinking him in.

He looks, for want of a better word, pale in the dim fairylight. He would be washed out and easily overlooked, if not for the fact that Donghyuck is hyperaware of Renjun. Donghyuck can’t help the stray thought that witchlight is far more forgiving to ghosts, celebrates death the way that fairylight celebrates life.

‘Let’s grab something to drink,’ Jaemin suggests, pointing to two tables across the hall. He strides over to a bowl that has a little card labelled O-NEG, whilst Jeno and Donghyuck opt for punch. ‘We’re going to have a good time tonight, I just know it.’

He’s proud of himself, and there’s a little smile on his face, but all three boys are intimately aware of the fact that Renjun’s smile isn’t quite as real as theirs. There are other ghosts at the dance, a bright boy named Chenle is laughing with his pixie friend, but Renjun won’t spend the whole night with him. They’d agreed to have fun together.

It sucks, sometimes, how corporeal and non-corporeal events can’t crossover perfectly and someone’s always left in the lurch.

‘You sure you don’t want me to,’ Donghyuck wiggles his fingers over the bowl, ‘ghostify some of this for you?’

Renjun laughs, and he becomes slightly more solid and less monochrome for a moment, ‘It’s fine, Hyuck. I don’t _need_ to eat or drink, so there’s no point in bringing out the fancy spellwork just for me.’

‘You know I’d do it for you,’ Donghyuck says, and he can’t help the fact that his voice is a little low, trying to escape Jaemin and Jeno’s ears even though _both_ of them have supernaturally enhanced senses.

‘I do,’ Renjun’s hand reaches out, resting a few centimetres above Donghyuck’s shoulder. If Donghyuck focuses hard enough, he can pretend he can feel warmth from Renjun’s body seeping through his clothes.

But he can’t feel anything, but the weight of a spell in his jacket pocket.

 

 

Jeno’s eyes are a burnt amber, which means the full moon has risen. Donghyuck’s not that in tune with the moon itself, just the coming and goings of the sun. It’s rare for a witch to be more powerful during the day, but Donghyuck feeds off the brightness and the warmth of the sun and stores the energy for when night falls.

His magic is bubbling under his skin, threatening to spill out into the room and Donghyuck lets it. He’s not alone, he knows that, not the only one who struggles to contain the power that courses through him. Jaemin’s fangs have dropped out, making his smile sharper and brighter, and Mark Lee’s hair moves in a breeze that cannot exist inside.

Jaemin’s arm is curled around Donghyuck’s shoulder as they laugh about how dumb the music is, even though Jaemin picked it. Jeno’s fingers are curled lightly with Jaemin’s, across the table, whilst he and Renjun have a serious conversation about whether the ghost will join him on the next moon run.

Donghyuck can’t help the way his eyes dart to Renjun, settling on Renjun’s fingers resting in his lap.

Jaemin catches him looking, and his smile’s more of a little grimace as he leans forward.

‘You know that he doesn’t mind,’ he says, little twitch of his own gaze to the space between Jeno and Renjun.

‘Doesn’t mind? Or just forced to get used to it?’ Donghyuck sighs, and he’s not one to pout but he can’t help the way his chest seizes up a little bit. It’s been years and he still isn’t used to knowing that Renjun can’t tangle into them the way they can with each other.

‘Oh, babe,’ Jaemin murmurs, and his hand combs through Donghyuck’s hair lightly. ‘Oh, _babe_.’

 

 

Chenle is clinging to Renjun, laughing in his ear, as they spin around the dancefloor. They’re careful not to bump into anyone, even though they’d just pass through more than anything, and Donghyuck’s fiercely, fiercely glad that Chenle is dead in that moment.

He hates that there’s a happiness to Renjun that only Chenle can inspire, even as he loves the way it lights Renjun’s face up.

Donghyuck knows he shouldn’t be this selfish, shouldn’t wish for all the attention to be on himself. But Donghyuck is selfish, it’s a fact that’s plain as day and he won’t ever deny it. He buries it down, chooses to be as selfless as he can when he needs to, but in his very heart of hearts, Donghyuck is selfish.

‘Chenle,’ he says, voice serious and sharp, ‘I think Jisung’s about to do something dumb.’

He points to where the pixie is poking at the cakes, and Chenle floats off to either stop him or enable him. It could be either with the two boys.

It leaves him along with Renjun. Donghyuck can’t help shifting slightly, under the ghost’s careful, steady gaze. The laughter and smile has faded from his face, reminding Donghyuck of the fact that perhaps Renjun is the most mature out of all of their friends.

‘What is it?’ Renjun asks and Donghyuck reaches out to take his hand before remembering.

‘Come with me,’ he says, walking through the crowds to a quiet corner of the hall. He doesn’t need to look behind him to know that Renjun is following him, not when there are no unimpressed questions tripping off his tongue.

He throws up his hands, casting a quick incantation that summons the witchlight to float around him. It settles him, perhaps that little bit, makes Renjun look not-alive as opposed to merely dead, and Donghyuck exhales in a slow, cold breath.

‘Okay,’ Donghyuck wipes sweaty palms against his thighs as he looks up at Renjun. ‘So, I promised that I wasn’t going to do anything, and you don’t have to accept it. But, I perhaps tried a thing with my brother? During the Winter Solstice?’

Donghyuck had been exhausted that day, pounded by the energy that he intrinsically drew from the sun. But once the sun had set, after those long hours, he and Taeyong had worked tirelessly to expel that magic that built up in Donghyuck before it overwhelmed him.

‘What did you do?’ Renjun whispers.

‘I built a spell,’ Donghyuck pulls it out of his pocket, a harmless hessian bag roughly the size of his palm. ‘I’ve already given Chenle his, but I’ve been saving yours.’

Renjun’s eyes move from the spell to Donghyuck and he swallows. He doesn’t need to ask what it is, because there’s the rune inked onto the bag that gives away a little bit about what’s contained inside it.

‘Cast it,’ Renjun whispers.

 

 

Donghyuck hasn’t let go of Renjun’s hand.

‘We have to dance with the others, before it wears off,’ he yells over the music and Renjun is so _warm_ in his grasp. Renjun laughs and stumbles forward, wrapping himself around Donghyuck’s waist instead. Donghyuck tries not to think about how he can’t tell where he starts and Renjun ends.  

‘Look at them,’ Renjun giggles, eyes bright, ‘ _disgusting_.’

Jeno and Jaemin are slow-dancing in the middle of the dancefloor. Jaemin’s head is resting against Jeno’s shoulder and it’s so cute that Donghyuck wants to puke a little bit. Weren’t vampires and werewolves meant to be mortal enemies? What on earth were they doing slow dancing to Bruno Mars?

Fortunately, they don’t have to break it up as Jeno pulls away with a bright grin.

‘Look at this!’

Jaemin’s laughing as Jeno buries himself into his best friend’s side. Renjun’s tiny compared to Jeno and he has to lift up onto his toes to hug him properly. Donghyuck’s never really noticed how Renjun will float just a few inches off the ground to make himself seem taller, not until today.

‘For one night, and one night only,’ Donghyuck says with a dramatic wave, ‘I give you. Huang Renjun, the solid version.’

‘Looking good,’ Jaemin grins, curling his fingers through Renjun’s hair to fix the little imperfections that he had missed earlier. ‘How long is it going to last?’

‘Probably about two hours or so,’ Donghyuck says.

‘Better make the most of it.’

Jaemin grabs Renjun’s hand and pulls him into a spin. The laugh that Renjun lets out is loud and bright, and Donghyuck can’t help joining in. Jeno’s grabbed Jaemin’s free hand and Donghyuck’s grabbed Renjun’s and they’re dancing in a circle and they’re a mess and tonight is for them.

 

 

‘Hey,’ Renjun murmurs, smile on his lips as he grins at Donghyuck. ‘Thanks for this.’ He’s sweating a bit, which Donghyuck’s never seen before, and he’s _happy_.

Donghyuck’s selfish, and he knows that Renjun doesn’t have to be corporeal to be happy, but he’s happy that they’ve had today. He can cast this spell again, with a bit of energy storage and time, but he’s not sure that he needs to.

‘I’m glad you enjoyed it,’ Donghyuck says, and he can’t help it because this is his _only_ chance.

He leans forward and he captures the very solid lips of Huang Renjun. There’s a moment of pause when Donghyuck thinks that he might have made a mistake, before Renjun’s fingers are curling into his lapels and he’s kissing back.

Renjun’s lips are warm and sweet, until they’re not.

Donghyuck pulls back, looking up at the slightly see through boy. Renjun floats back with a sigh, looking down and Donghyuck wishes that he could take Renjun’s hand to assure him. But he also knows that there are better ways with this boy.

Instead, he focuses on the magic that he’s been storing all night and channels it into a warmth that he channels at Renjun. It’s the kind that only Renjun and Chenle can feel, on a plane of existence separate to Donghyuck’s own.

Renjun looks up and Donghyuck soldiers forth because he is selfish and Renjun kissed back. ‘Do you want to go out, next week?’

‘Like, on a date?’ Renjun’s lost his colour and his warmth, but that’s not what makes him Renjun. It’s the smile and the sweetness and the way he doesn’t let things get him down.

‘Yeah,’ Donghyuck says, ‘exactly.’

 

**Author's Note:**

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